14 Solutions receive funding to bring their idea to life

Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. That’s is why the Government of Canada has created the 5-year, $300 million Housing Supply Challenge, to further support housing supply solutions.

Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion announced the 14 funding recipients of the first round, Data Driven, of the Housing Supply Challenge.

The first round of the Housing Supply Challenge, Data Driven, sought solutions to address gaps in housing data — which are often outdated, inconsistent and not openly available — making it more difficult to manage housing supply issues. Participants were to create technology or methodology based solutions to improve data collection, sharing, analysis and integration, thus improving decision-making on housing supply.

136 solutions were submitted. 21 solutions were shortlisted, receiving $200,000 each to prototype their solution, and 14 prototypes passed the final evaluation stage and will share a pool of $22.5 million to start implementing their solutions:

• First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba, FNHSSM eHealth Housing Database, Manitoba
• Purpose Analytics, Low-end of Market Rental Housing Monitor, Ontario
• University of British Columbia, Needs Assessment and Well-Located Land: A Data-Driven Solution to Balanced Supply of Housing, British Columbia
• McMaster University, CHEC Administrative Data Centre, Ontario
• McGill University, Data Homebase: A prototype visualizing Canada’s housing characteristics to foster a circular economy, Quebec
• The Métis Nation of Ontario, Using Strategic Data to Shape Regional Allocation of Affordable Housing Investments for Métis citizens in Ontario, Ontario
• Université Laval, Mapping of population vulnerability and exposure to extreme heat waves, Quebec
• MapYourProperty Inc., Single Data Intelligence Platform for Affordable Housing Development, Ontario
• Ontario First Nations Technical Services, Ontario First Nation Housing Needs, Ontario
• Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus (EOWC), Filling the Housing Information Gap in Rural Eastern Ontario, Ontario
• Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services, Digital database and software tool to support housing needs for Indigenous CFS youth transitioning, Manitoba
• OPEN Technologies, Net-zero Navigator Extension for Affordable Housing, BC
• Family Services Windsor-Essex, Maintaining Affordability through ADUs: A Tracking and Analysis Model, Ontario
• Vivre en Ville, Residential lease registry: Open data for maintaining affordable housing supply, Quebec

Executive summaries of funding recipients for Round 1 of the Housing Supply Challenge are available.

The third round of the Housing Supply Challenge, Northern Access Round: Supply Chain Solutions for Northern and Remote Housing, invites residents and professionals to submit ideas and solutions to improve Canada’s housing supply chain in northern and remote regions. The application phase for this round launches on January 12, 2022.

Quotes:

“Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. Increasing the supply of housing requires innovative and disruptive thinking. The Housing Supply Challenge brings forward the best new ideas backed by funding, to turn those ideas into realities. Through the Data Dirven round, we’re working hard to stimulate a culture of trust and openness in Canada and to encourage the accessibility of housing data for everyone.”

Quick facts:

• Round 2: Getting Started will soon announce a shortlist of 29 applicants, from 167 applications received.
• The Northern Access Round needs your help to eliminate supply chain barriers. Due to supply chain limitations, northern and remote regions incur some of the highest costs to build and maintain housing. These include:
  • high transportation costs
  • increased investment risks
  • long timelines
  • limited access to resources and infrastructure
• The Northern Access Round has a pool of up to $80M to fund and implement ideas that address these barriers.
• To help break barriers to housing supply, Budget 2019 provided $300 million in funding over five years to launch a Housing Supply Challenge to address housing supply and unlock new solutions for Canadians searching for an affordable place to call home.
• The Challenge aims to provide new resources and find solutions to housing supply barriers and provide a platform to share these models with communities across Canada.
• The Challenge will also help address barriers to housing supply and affordability, showcase new ideas and solutions and cultivate collaboration and partnerships.
• The Challenge is a component of Impact Canada, a Government of Canada-wide initiative to help departments accelerate the adoption of innovative funding approaches to deliver meaningful results to Canadians.
• The Housing Supply Challenge is delivered by Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC) and CMHC has partnered with Evergreen on a support program to help applicants develop the most impactful solutions.
• The Challenge aligns with the National Housing Strategy and CMHC’s goal, that by 2030 everyone in Canada has a home they can afford and that meets their needs.
• Canada’s NHS is an ambitious, 10-year plan that will invest over $72 billion to give more Canadians a place to call home. Launched in 2017, the NHS will build and repair thousands of housing units, and help households with affordability support.

Associated links:

Find more information about the Housing Supply Challenge.

As Canada’s authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC’s aim is that by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can afford, and that meets their needs. For more information, follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

To find out more about the National Housing Strategy, visit www.placetocallhome.ca.

Information on this release:

Mikaela Harrison
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion
mikaela.harrison@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

Media Relations
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca